The invention relates to circuit board design and to simulation of circuit board behavior during circuit board design.
Complex circuit boards, particularly Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) like e.g. Bladeboards, I/O boards, system control boards, may comprise up to 5000 or more electronic components having different supply voltages. Due to this, on circuit boards multiple supply and signal voltages are wired, wherein up to five to ten different voltage levels are no exception.
An adaptation of different signal voltages is performed or implemented by using level converters. The supply voltages are distributed by powerplanes or by broad PCB tracks typically made of copper. If a wrong connection occurs, components and also boards can be destroyed, malfunctions of the components can occur and breakdowns or early failures can happen.
According to the state of the art, a verification of the proper connection of supply-voltage and signal pins with respect to the required voltages to be applied on said pins is performed manually using circuit diagrams and data sheets of the components. State of the Art checking tools provide verification of logic behavior of components, control of interconnections, impedances and similar electric characteristics but do not provide verification functionality to avoid the abovementioned consequences of wrong connections with respect to voltage levels.